Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas (1827)

SECTION IV.

Election of Governor, Vice-Governor and Councillors.

ART. 129. On the day following the election of deputies to congress
each and every electoral district judge junta shall choose a governor,
vice governor, three councillors proper and two substitutes, holding
said election in the mode and manner provided in articles 71, 72, 73,
and 74.

ART. 130. Said election having closed, a list signed by the secretary
of the assembly, comprising the names of the persons elected and offices
for which they were chosen, shall be immediately posted in the most
public place. The acts shall be signed by the president and electors,
and attested copies thereof authorized by the said president, secretary
and tellers shall be transmitted, enclosed in a certified sheet, to the
standing deputation.

ART. 131. On the day the first ordinary sessions of congress are
opened, the ex-president of the standing deputation shall present the
aforementioned attested copies, and after they are read, congress shall
choose a committee from its own body, to which they shall be referred,
that said committee may review the same and report thereon on the third
day.

ART. 132. On said day congress shall proceed to determine the
elections made by the districts, and compute the votes.

ART. 133. The person who receives the absolute majority of votes of
the district electoral assemblies, to be computed according to the whole
number of voters composing the same, shall be governor, vice governor,
or councillor, as the election under consideration may be.

ART. 134. Should not person receive the aforesaid majority, congress
shall elect for said offices one of the two or more individuals having
the highest number of votes; and the same shall be done when no one has
said respective majority, but all an equal number of votes.

ART. 135. Should one person only receive the respective majority, and
two or more an equal number of votes, but greater than that of all the
others, congress shall elect one individual from among the former, to be
run in competition for the election, with the person who received the
respective majority.

ART. 136. In case of time the balloting shall be repeated once only,
and should there still be a tie it shall be determined by lot.

ART. 137. The offices of governor, vice-governor and councillors
shall be discharged in preference to any other whatever in the state,
and shall successively have the same preference among themselves. Those
elected to said stations shall take possession thereof on the first of
March, and they cannot decline serving, except the deputies to congress
at the time of election, and those who, in the judgment of said
congress, are morally or physically disabled.

ART. 138. Should the governor elect from any cause, not be present on
said day to enter on the performance of his functions, the vice-governor
newly chosen shall enter on the discharge of the office, and should he
also be absent, his default shall be supplied agreeably to article 118.